Ripples in the Ocean
by Arrowned
Summary: A mermaid queen encounters an old love, some new friends... and an intriguing surprise.


**Ripples in the Ocean**

_Remix of_: www . fanfiction .net/s/4381642/1/Surfing_Blues (I can't believe this site cuts off its own URL's)  
_Rating_: K  
_Synopsis_: A mermaid queen encounters an old love, some new friends... and an intriguing surprise.  
_Disclaimer_: Are these even really necessary at this point? It's obvious the material a fanfiction is written about isn't owned by the fan. :P  
_Timeline_: Post-Ninja Storm.  
_Pairings_: Chad/Marina, Tori/Blake  
_Word Count_: 1849  
_Note_: Can you believe it's been three years since I last wrote anything? Didn't help that I had to rewrite it from scratch at the last minute when I suddenly realized it would be more interesting from Marina's POV instead of Chad's. Hope you enjoy it, Ter. Much thanks to Meg for story ideas, and Angel for the beta, the title, and a lot of additional help.

* * *

As usual, the surroundings were beautiful. Overwhelmingly blue. Inviting. Calm.

She needed calm.

It had been two years since Marina succeeded her father to the throne of the merpeople. Even now, she felt that she wasn't ready, but Neptune and her advisers were helping her every stroke of the way, and the people she now ruled were nothing if not considerate. But that didn't change the fact that her life these days were incredibly busy. She rarely had time to swim out on her own in between meetings and the like.

But now was one of those rare times, and like always, she immediately swam for the spot where she and Chad first met.

Chad was a touchy subject around her people. Obviously they felt that a relationship with a human was doomed to failure, and her advisers wanted her to find a suitable consort as soon as possible to secure the royal line. Surprisingly, however, her father was often the mediating voice of the argument.

"If not for that boy, all our people would have been killed," he reminds them. This is never enough to halt their concerns, but she appreciates his efforts nonetheless. For the time being, it's something she's able to ignore.

As she swam for the surface, she could easily pick out Chad's profile. Chad, eagle-eyed whenever she was concerned, wasted no time and dove into the water to meet her. She smiled as he got close enough to see clearly. But she couldn't help chuckling at his attempt at a greeting. Four years in a relationship meant that he had gotten better at his greetings, but even humans that the ocean called to are ill-prepared for proper underwater kissing.

She would have happily continued "teaching" him, but a tug on her senses distracted her. Since becoming Queen, she had inherited her father's trident, and it had enhanced her latent abilities to control the flow of water around her. At that moment, she could sense something else controlling water on the surface, and it confused her. There were no merscouts in this area, and why would one be creating small waves anyways?

Chad obviously sensed something wrong, and mouthed a subsequent question. She shrugged and shook her head, as the feeling had vanished too quickly for her to figure out what was going on. She refrained from trying to explain the situation; Chad always felt guilty when she started talking underwater and he had no easy way to reply. So instead, she pointed up, their standard sign to suggest heading for the surface.

Chad smiled and began to kick upwards, and then started as he noticed a significant amount of movement near his surfboard. He took off, leaving Marina confused for a second before following.

She broke the surface, blinking at the odd feeling of energy that acted as a sort of spiritual hum in her ears. "Chad! Why did you-!"

More humans! Marina ducked behind Chad, mentally cursing herself as she realized her tail had broken the water in the rush and that the two humans couldn't now possibly mistake her for anything other than a mermaid. Queen of her people, and yet she had just broken one of the primary rules! Of course, she had broken that rule when she first met Chad. She was never one for following rules that stemmed from isolation and didn't necessarily improve her people's situation.

Chad and Marina simply continued to stare at the two humans, who quite clearly didn't know how to react to what they had seen. Suddenly, the blonde shouted "You're Chad Lee! The Blue Lightspeed Ranger!"

Marina knew that Chad and the other Rangers were well-known in the human world, and so the woman recognizing him didn't surprise her. In the meantime, her attention had been drawn to the man, who looked at the woman with a combined expression of confusion and apprehension. Nonetheless, he gently rested his hand on her shoulder and attempted to diffuse the situation with a quick remark. Even as she worried over how they would take this, Marina couldn't help but instantly realize that these two were probably together.

She felt a quick flash of envy at them both being human, at the fact that they would have no bar to spending all the time they wanted with each other. She quickly cut the thought off, though. She didn't know their situation, and there were more important things to worry about. She tightened her grip on Chad as he looked at her worriedly.

The blonde finally seemed to regain her senses and asked Chad if he knew a person named Tommy Oliver. Chad immediately turned his full attention to her and asked if it was the same person who had called the Red Rangers to the moon.

Marina remembered this story. Chad and his friends were angry with their teammate Carter for weeks for taking off without telling them, considering that he would normally be forthcoming with any type of important thing he had to take care of. Chad's recounting of the story involved complaints that it was the rest of them who didn't tell him about missions, while Carter just didn't tell them about broken ribs.

Chad had quoted Kelsey's reaction, finding her wording hilarious. "I mean, seriously! It's _our_ job to act like a normal Red Ranger, not his; he can't just up and change the status quo like that!" Marina had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, which naturally resulted in a splash fight. But she had also been in awe of the fact that the Rangers had left Earth entirely. She had always wondered what outer space, something completely inimical to her way of life, was like. That Chad himself had gone off-planet only impressed her more, though his memories of that experience always returned to how close they came to not making it back. This, in turn, always made her feel a little guilty for asking, and more than a little worried at the idea of something like that happening again. Thankfully, Queen Bansheera and her army were long gone, so there was little for her to worry about these days.

Having brought a fellow Ranger into the conversation, it was quickly established that the other two humans were Power Rangers themselves. Marina sighed with relief and moved out from behind Chad, taking his hand into hers. Two random humans seeing a mermaid was an issue, but two Rangers seeing one was not. These two were interesting people as well. The woman was friendly, devoted to her team, and unafraid to point out their foibles with a smile. Marina liked that. The man, named Blake according to various statements by the woman, stayed quiet during most of the conversation, though Marina got the feeling that he was more embarrassed by the situation than by meeting new people in general. The blushes and fond looks were telling.

Unfortunately, they reminded her of the situation between her and Chad, and _that_ reminded her that she had already spent too long out here. She had a territorial dispute between two clans over reef borders that she needed to mediate. She smiled sadly and let her grip on his hand loosen, prompting him to sigh in return.

The other two Rangers looked curiously at him, so he explained how they were together despite the wishes of both their people and how little time they had. His gaze locked onto hers, and she couldn't help but gaze right back. It was amazing sometimes, how much they loved each other.

The woman broke the trance. "It was very nice to meet you, Marina. You have a fine man, here."

Marina, pleased that the woman had addressed her directly, smiled brightly. "Thank you, uh..." The woman had said her love's name several times, but never mentioned her own.

"Oh, oh!" the woman exclaimed after a few seconds. "My name's Tori. Tori Hansen."

Tori Hansen and Blake. She would remember those names. "Thank you Tori, and you also have a fine man. Don't lose him," she added, winking, causing Chad and Blake to blush.

Flipping around, she made one last statement. "Do not be strangers here; it's always interesting to meet friends of Chad." With that, she dipped underwater and swam away.

The swim home alternated with feelings of contentment and sadness. She hoped that she would be able to spend more time with Chad relatively soon, even if there was little chance of it. Time was so capricious where the two of them were concer...

Marina's mental train of thought halted as the location of the original twitch of water being controlled, the sense of power behind it, and the woman's intuitive moments in the ocean, all suddenly clicked.

_Tori was the one who made that wave._

She felt embarrassed for not realizing it earlier, though she had a good excuse what with keeping track of the conversation. As a Power Ranger, a human having control over water easily sounded possible considering some of their other abilities, but still. The ramifications brought Marina to a dead halt in the water.

_How strong are Tori's powers? Can she control water to a larger extent?_ Marina thought it was possible, considering that energy she felt earlier would've had to have been Tori, and it was a lot more potent than what would be needed to make a tiny wave. At that, she realized that she had felt fading traces of a power similar to Chad's old ones coming from her, and that it was unconnected to the energy that could control the water.

_It's her _own_ power!_ Marina realized in shock. Was that something unique to her? Did her Ranger powers initially give her the ability, even though they were unconnected afterwards? If it wasn't unique, did that mean other humans were out there that had power over water like her? Were there any other Rangers that could do it? How would her people react to the news that humans potentially had this ability? She had the feeling there would be a lot of consternation. How could she convince her people that this wasn't necessarily a danger then? Could she use this as some sort of impetus to suggest possibly starting some kind of official mer/human relations? Or was that too dangerous?

_Split my fins, I should've asked her where she lived!_ Marina thought, thinking that setting up a series of merscouts in that area would have been smart. She'd have to rearrange the watch points in hopes that she could pick up energy traces, unless she she just saw Tori again to ask first. At the very least, perhaps a Ranger with water powers would convince her advisers to be less antagonistic to humans.

That last idea sent Marina's train of thought in the direction of dangerously exciting possibilities. She started swimming for home again, much faster than before. Even by complete accident, it seemed Chad kept doing things to make her life that much more joyful.

The long gaps between seeing each other were completely worth it.

* * *

Alternate ending courtesy of Angel:

AND THEN SHE RAN INTO A SUNKEN SHIP WITH THE LABEL BP ON IT AND SHED A SINGLE TEAR.


End file.
